Two former DeKalb County court officials will serve more than two years in federal prison for fixing criminal charges in exchange for cash. Probation officer Natalie Nicole Dunn and Keith L. Hughes, coordinator of DeKalb’s Office of Pretrial Services, were sentenced today for asking a drug defendant for a $25,000 payoff to get the charges dismissed. Read the news release …

Federal prosecutors announced action in two unrelated Ponzi schemes this afternoon: Former McDonough attorney Steven H. Ballard, 53, was sent to prison for five-plus years for a scam that netted more than $1 million, and former Hoschton mortgage broker Edward William Farley, 47, pleaded guilty to fraud charges involving more than 150 victims and $20 million in losses. Farley will be sentenced in February. Read the news releases…

A federal judge today sentenced a former Polk County deputy sheriff to nearly two years in prison for beating an inmate in a restraint chair. Ex-Sgt. Joshua David Lowe, 25, will serve 1 year and nine months in prison for the beating, described by a witness as unjustified and “horrible.” Read the news release …

Kristi Kirkus Wilson pleaded guilty in June to embezzling $130,000 that she spent on a waterslide, a barn, outdoor Christmas decorations and other home improvements. Today, a federal judge ordered Wilson, former executive director of the Conyers Housing Authority, to pay it all back and serve 18 months in prison.

A former Fort McPherson official was sentenced to federal prison today for taking bribes to steer $66 million in contracts to provide water to U.S. troops in Iraq. Richard E. Long, 63, of St. Augustine, Fla., was convicted in February of accepting $549,700 in bribes from Mack S. Smith to help Smith’s company win the Army’s business. Long got 17 1/2 years, while Smith, also convicted in February, got 12 1/2 years. I wasn’t there, but I can pass on the news release …